The Dusk Guard Saga is a Series/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic fanfic by Viking ZX. The first book, ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/101441 Rise]]'', as well as several side stories ([[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/143394/carry-on Carry On]], [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/157816/the-definition-of-strength The Definition of Strength]], [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/173657/old-habits Old Habits]], [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/189918/emoticon Emoticon]], [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/155036/hearths-warming-cookies Hearth's Warming Cookies]], [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/207113/why-me Why me?]], [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/232347/remembrance Remembrance]], and [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/232371/trust Trust]]) have been completed so far. The second book, ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/268295/the-dusk-guard-beyond-the-borderlands Beyond The Borderlands]]'', is ongoing.

Steel Song is a retired bodyguard, enjoys jogging, visiting his family, and tending to his garden. This changes one day, when he receives a mysterious package with no return address and is called out of retirement to join a newly-formed unit. Their first task: investigate strange thefts that had been occurring on the Equestrian Railway - an assignment that might just turn out to be much more dangerous and earthshaking than anyone had bargained for.

The story is notable for featuring a cast made up almost entirely of original characters. It has been featured in the [[http://www.fimfiction.net/group/824 Twilight's Library]], Canterlot's Finest section.

----!!''Rise'' contains examples of:* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Cappy: "Oh Steel, still the same stubborn stallion."* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Primetail asks Steel during the diplomatic dinner: "Are you telling me that there has never been a mare to catch your heart?"* AttackItsWeakPoint: [[spoiler:Sky Bolt advises the team to go for the joints when fighting a golem]].* AutobotsRockOut: [[spoiler:Before beginning the final battle with the golem in a night club, Nova asks Vinyl to put the music on.]]* AwesomeAussie: Hunter, a former member of the Rangers, has an Australian accent.* AxCrazy: [[spoiler:Radiant, after her plans are ruined. It's quite possible she might have been like that for quite a long time]].* BackInTheSaddle: Steel Song comes out of retirement to lead the new guard detachment.* BadassBoast: Nova has a very short, but very poignant one in Operation chapter 14, after being dressed down by the BigBad for being just a cowardly thief.--> '''Nova''': “I am more than a thief!” (Casts [[NoKillLikeOverkill The Spell]]) “I am a Dusk Guard.”* BadassCrew: The Dusk Guard grows to be one as the story progresses.* BadassGrandpa: While not technically a grandpa, Steel Song has a daily practice routine harsher than that seen for the Equestrian Royal Guard, leads an elite team of military commandos from the front, regularly fights ''and wins'' against much younger opponents, and [[spoiler:still soundly kicks manticore and giant golem butt]], all while pushing sixty.* BareFistedMonk: Sabra of the Zebra, the youngest master of the Fimbo style in seventeen generations.* BigFancyHouse: Dawn inherited one from her uncle.* BilingualBonus: Sabra interjects in Swahili quite often.** The Griffin language is rendered using Turkish.* BondOneLiner: Nova: "And, that. Is how, you hit it until it stops moving. Sir."* BossBanter: [[spoiler:Radiant constantly taunts the team when trying to squish them, first with her army, and then with her giant golem]].* BoxedCrook: Nova's requested to work for the Dusk Guard to pay for the many, many things he stole. Unusually, there's no physical leash. He could easily escape, and everyone in the Dusk Guard ''knows'' he could easily escape, but Nova has rules.* BrownNote: Enchanting gems is dangerous. A unicorn that tries to enchant too fast, or too much, will go mad.* TheCaptain: Steel Song, captain of the Dusk Guard.* CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: Inverted. Captain Steel is a stern, no-nonsense officer, while his second in command, Lieutenant Hunter, is an easy going individual.* TheCavalryArrivesLate: [[spoiler:Having ensured everyone's safety, the princesses arrive back at the court scant moments after the golem has already been dealt with.]]* ChekhovsArmoury: So many. For one of the more obvious: the mention of a non-Griffon Blademaster does become relevant in the main story.* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Luna of all people]] is heavily implied to have orchestrated everything concerning [[spoiler:the creation of the Dusk Guard]].* CombatByChampion: One of the ways a feud between Griffin tribes can be resolved without a bloody battle is for a Blademaster of one tribe to challenge the commander of the opposing force to a duel.* DarkAndTroubledPast: ** Nova [[spoiler:got his cutie mark when he froze everything around himself in a feat of panicked spellcasting, including an unfortunate guard who nearly died as a result and almost lost three limbs from cold burns. He avoided using his magic ever since.]]** Hunter [[spoiler:lost his fiancée in an accident, which resulted in a three-year-long depression.]]** Steel [[spoiler:broke his sparring partner's leg while in the academy. He almost quit from guilt, and still thinks about the accident from time to time.]]* DisproportionateRetribution / DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Steel comes back home to a furious Sapphire, who proceeds to slap him and then beat him over the head with her saddlebags, never once explaining [[spoiler:it's because he broke Cappy's heart a few weeks earlier.]] Steel of course has no idea what's going on. Two weeks later, she comes to him and Steel demands explanation, after which she recognizes her error and apologizes... but not for actually hitting him.* DoAnythingSoldier: While each member of the Dusk Guard is technically not this trope, the unit as a whole, is. During the initial interview, the princesses specifically asked Steel Song to select a group of five individuals that could perform any and all of a wide variety of completely different tasks.* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Blade Sunchaser, the {{Big Bad}}'s bodyguard.]]* DreamWalker: Princess Luna. Part of her duties as the Regent of the Night is watching over the dreams of her subjects. She intervenes only in extreme circumstances.* FantasticFightingStyle: The are a lot of different fighting styles in the story. Maji Kwato (The Water Hoof) of the Zebra monks, the Stone Wall and Mud Wall stances of the earth ponies, the Charging Hoof Style, the Tempest and Hurricane styles of the pegasi.* AFatherToHisMen: Steel Song cares deeply for his team.* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:When Hunter meets Radiant at the diplomatic dinner, her eyes are bloodshot, with large bags under them.]]** [[spoiler:During the same dinner, Radiant berates her sister for finding the thefts shameful.]]* ForestRanger: Hunter, a [[ScarilyCompetentTracker master tracker]] and an actual member of the Rangers in the Everfree.* FourIsDeath: [[spoiler:There are four generations (though still three types, as Mk.II was just a slightly improved Mk.I) of golems that Mint and Radiant built, not counting the huge mecha-sized one]].* GadgeteerGenius: Sky Bolt. Her latest commercial design, ''The Alicorn'', had to be reverse-engineered, because nobody understood how it worked exactly, and so she would have been the only one able to maintain it. Her pet project is an improved steam engine with estimated 250% power increase over regular ones. She plans to use it in ''The Hummingbird'', a miniaturized airship.* GenkiGirl: Cappy the mailmare, Pinkie Pie, Sky Bolt.* GetARoom: Steel jokingly threatens to take up a garden hose against his sister Sapphire and her husband Click at one point in the first book.* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: During a pre-match strategy session, Hunter says that Dawn's skill with ropes is terrifying, and so he wants her on base defense. Nova sniggers, and Hunter nearly bursts out laughing. Dawn and Steel are not amused.* GoodOldFisticuffs: Steel's WeaponOfChoice is a pair of heavy steel gauntlets.* GrailInTheGarbage: [[spoiler:A break-in happened in a museum where some crystals being kept in a very old box were swiped, sans one. Luna later tells the guards that the three stolen crystals can become ''a key for unlocking [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E1TheCrystalEmpirePart1 Sombra]] from his prision''.]]* HappilyMarried: Sapphire Song and Click Time.* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: [[spoiler:The final battle with Blade.]] The team walks into an enormous, seemingly empty hallway, only for Nova to notice [[spoiler:there are golems in standby mode on the balconies]].* HiddenPurposeTest: The first training exercise against the Guard during ''Rise'' is officially about testing everyone's skills when outnumbered... but it becomes increasingly clear that it's also about their ability (and inability) to work together and trust each other.* HonourBeforeReason: The Griffin society runs on this. It's the only way to avoid a wholesome slaughter between the clans.* [[spoiler:HumongousMecha]]: [[spoiler:Radiant built a gigantic golem out of the stolen crystal.]]* ImportantHairCut: Hunter cuts his mane back to its previous length[[spoiler:, from before his fiancée died,]] when he decides to join the Dusk Guard.* IncomingHam: [[spoiler:Radiant: “Well, look who finally decided to show up!”]]* InHarmsWay: Dawn frequently shadows doctors at the hospital, offering them advice, despite her forced retirement, just to feel that she is doing something meaningful.* JumpedAtTheCall: Steel Song, Hunter and Dawn had been getting incredibly bored with their current life. Sky Bolt was offered financing of her pet airship project. All accepted the offer practically on the spot.* JustInTime: [[spoiler:The princesses are about to sign the documents relieving them of the ERS shares, when Hunter shows up with evidence.]]* KnowledgeBroker: Violet Heart. They were the one who informed the princess [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E25ACanterlotWeddingPart1 of the threat to Canterlot]].* {{Leitmotif}}: Each of the squad members gets a character theme.* LethalChef: Jammer sure loves to spice food.* LoopholeAbuse: [[spoiler:Blade]] doesn't care about the villains' plot, and doesn't really want to fight Hunter, [[PunchClockVillain but is under contract to follow their orders]]. Steel Song knows that such a contract can only be broken if the one who entered into it find themselves at such a massive disadvantage that retreat is the only reasonable option, or if they are challenged to a duel by a Blademaster. [[spoiler:Steel Song happens to currently be the only non-griffon Blademaster alive.]]* {{Magitech}}: Spells that mimic a flare gun, magilights, [[PoweredArmor enchanted gem-powered armor]].* TheManBehindTheMan: [[spoiler:Mint isn't as innocent as the Dusk Guard (and the readers) are led to believe.]]* [[spoiler:MechaMooks]]: [[spoiler:The golems. Also {{Giant Mook}}s]].* TheMedic: Dawn. She was a medic for the Rangers before joining the Dusk Guard as their physician. She later becomes a CombatMedic.* MightyGlacier: [[spoiler:The golems in general, but especially the crystal one. It's [[NoSell impervious to direct magical attacks]] and highly resistant to physical damage, can hit like a wrecking ball, and tramples anything in its path.]]* MotorMouth: Pinkie Pie, as usual.* NiceHat: Hunter's Ranger hat. [[spoiler:Also a TragicKeepsake.]]* OhCrap: [[spoiler:The reaction of everyone in the know when a giant crystal golem shows up. A few moments later the Princesses as well, when their attack does little but piss it off.]]** [[spoiler:The Dusk Guard is storming Radiant's headquarters, making short work of the dozen or so golems she has... and then she reveals that she wasn't bluffing when she said she had an army.]]** [[spoiler:The team managed to bury all of the abovementioned army under the collapsed building, escaped with their lives, and are starting to wind down from the fight. Only for a gigantic crystal golem to burst out of the rubble.]]* OlderThanTheyLook: it's hinted that Steel Song could become this.** [[spoiler:Cappy was in Steel Song's sister's graduating class. She looks like she's in her mid-twenties.]]* ThePerfectCrime: Things are vanishing from sealed containers in locked railway cars. Nobody knows how, or who could be doing it, so the Dusk Guard is dispatched to investigate.* PoorCommunicationKills / CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: [[spoiler:The whole mess with Cappy could have been avoided at so many points in time, if only someone would have stopped to explain it to Steel, or Steel had simply said why he didn't want to engage in a relationship.]]** Princess Luna of all people only informs Steel about [[spoiler:Cappy's nightmares]] well after the whole thing is over.* PoweredArmor: Sky Bolt's upgraded armor designs are drastically more capable than the showy Day and Night Guard sets, and even in low-power mode significantly increase the user's strength and durability. The high-power augmentations could give the armor suits from ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'' a run for their money.* PuppyDogEyes: ** Cappy uses the maneuver when she wants something from Steel. It works astoundingly well.** Dinky makes the expression when Hunter comes to say good-bye.* PunchClockVillain: [[spoiler:Hunter's griffon friend, Blade. She doesn't care about the sister's plot, but she's under contract, and it would be a stain on her honor as a griffon warrior if she were to break that contract.]]* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Nova is a snarky [[GentlemanThief thief]], Sabra is a zebra monk on a religious pilgrimage, Sky Bolt is a genius [[WrenchWench engineer]] with no military background to mention, Dawn is a [[TechnicalPacifist pacifist]] doctor who refuses to retire, and Steel Song is an amazing warrior with nearly no social life and nearing the retirement age himself. Only Hunter is a typical example of his paygrade, and that's because he's trying to get over the loss of a loved one. [[{{Foil}} Contrasted with]] the Day and Night Guard, which are larger and uniform armies which make each individual member interchangeable.* RetiredBadass: Steel Song. He comes out of retirement at the beginning of the story.* RuleOfThree: The first book is divided into three acts: Assembly, Training, and Operation.** To become a blademaster one must challenge and defeat three active blademasters.** [[spoiler:The sisters created three golem types: wooden, iron and crystal]].* ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder: Maniacal laughter? Check. Megalomania? Check. [[spoiler:Creating an army of constricts to take over the world? By the end, Radiant]] has all the symptoms.* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Blade teases Hunter about a new marefriend, prompting him to respond with this line, only for the griffin to reveal she was leading him on[[spoiler:, and didn't know about Thistle.]]* SherlockScan: Hunter deduces that Sabra had been at the Ranger station a few days before based on a strand of hair caught in the doorway, a few tracks and a weather report.* ShiningCity: Canterlot. It's especially prominent at the train station.* ShipTease: [[spoiler:Sky Bolt and Sabra are visibly attracted to each other, though it's much less pronounced in Sabra's case.]]** [[spoiler:Hunter can't stop thinking how pretty Thistle's wings are.]]* ShoutOut:** When a Zebra master wishes to become a Grand Master, he thinks of a question that has no answer any of the Zebra can give. He then must travel the world until he finds the answer to his question. Hunter suggests using "[[Literature/TheHobbit What do I have in my pockets?]]" as a possible way of getting out of this custom.** When Steel tells Nova Beam that he can tell him something that will shut the annoying kid up, Nova asks if it is [[StarWars "I am your father"]].** Before the game of Capture the Flag, Nova asks if they have any sort of team slogan. Hunter suggests [[Film/DieHard Yippe ki-yay]].** There are various strange apparatuses on shelves in Princess Celestia's study, much like [[Literature/HarryPotter Dumbledore's]], and her phoenix is also keeping her company.** While poring over reports, Hunter remembers the quote from [[Franchise/SherlockHolmes Fetlock Holmes]]: ''"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."''* StuffBlowingUp: The battery crystals are extremely unstable. [[spoiler:Hunter uses one to blow a hole in the rail car wall when cornered.]]* SuperSenses: Sabra has superbly keen hearing, to the point he can navigate by it while blindfolded.* TechnicalPacifist: Dawn considers herself a pacifist, but is not above strong-arming unruly patients and fights just as well as everyone else when the need arises.* ToBeLawfulOrGood: [[spoiler:Blade chooses to be lawful, in the context of sticking to her contract. She doesn't like it, however.]]* TokenMinority: Sabra is a Zebra, a species so rarely seen in Equestria that the residents of Ponyville didn't really know what one was until Twilight Sparkle explained.** Arguably, Steel Song himself, seeing as how A: he's the only Earth Pony on the team, and B: the military is usually made up of Unicorns and Pegasi.* TrainingFromHell: Although it starts slow, the Dusk Guard training regimen is much harder than the other Royal Guard units. For example, the usual running distance for a daily regimen in the guard is 6 miles. The Dusk Guard runs 12 on 'easy days'. It is through sheer determination, more than anything else, that the recruits are enduring it and succeeding.* TrickBoss: [[spoiler:Both Radiant's golem army and her huge crystal golem are taken down with an uncanny use of the environment.]]* TrueCompanions: Important, in a setting where ThePowerOfFriendship summons laserbeams and powers magic.* UnresolvedSexualTension: Steel Song and Cappy have this in spades in the first book. The fact that she is half his age doesn't help, as he insists she can't be thinking of him in "that way". Then Sapphire angrily informs her brother that Cappy [[spoiler:is actually two years older than Sapphire herself, [[OlderThanTheyLook she simply looks young]], and she really is thinking of Steel in "that way"]], and things get resolved.* [[spoiler:VictoryFakeout]]: [[spoiler:The dusk guard has defeated the golem army and successfully escaped from the collapsing building. Too bad Radiant is dead. Wait... why is the ground shaking?]]** [[spoiler:So Radiant is finally in custody, and everyone is enjoying their lives. The credits roll... And then we see that Mint has been behind it all, and she is traveling the badlands after her escape, looking for new opportunities to wreak havoc.]]* WarriorPoet: Sabra is very philosophical, as befitting a warrior monk.* WhamEpisode: Training, Chapter 3. [[spoiler:The thief has stolen a set of magical keys that have been thought lost. They unlock the prison of a powerful evil being.]]** [[spoiler:The Epilogue: It was Mint who designed the basic golems. She's been playing up the innocent victim act, escaped, and is headed toward the Diamond Dog tribes, intent on being their leader. She also seems more than a bit unhinged.]]* WolfpackBoss: [[spoiler:Subverted in the final fight with Blade, thanks to Steel exploiting ancient Griffin traditions.]]** [[spoiler:Played straight later, with the battle at the counterweight, where the team is opposed by multiple golems.]]* WrenchWench: Sky Bolt. She works as an engineer in an airship construction company before joining Dusk Guard as their primary mechanic.* YouALLLookFamiliar: Explicitly invoked with the Royal Guard armor, which is enchanted to mask the natural colors of the wearer, and make them appear nearly identical.* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: [[spoiler:Princess Luna]] has a heartfelt conversation with Nova about his DarkAndTroubledPast.* YouKnowWhatYouDid: When Steel asks his sister why she's mad at him, Saphire uses this exact line. She only explains what she meant two weeks later.

!!''Carry On'' contains examples of:* [[spoiler:AllJustADream]]: [[spoiler:Sky Bolt wakes up from a very vivid nightmare about halfway though the first chapter.]]** And again in chapter 3.* IWantGrandkids: Sky Bolt's mother can't stop reminding her how handsome Sabra is.* TheMadnessPlace: Sky Bolt is falling into it, mostly due to insomnia.* OutOfCharacterMoment: Sky Bolt lashes out at Nova when he comes to check on her. That finally convinces her to seek help.* ShellShockedVeteran: Sky Bolt is getting hammered by PTSD. On a somewhat less negative side, it allows her to make a breakthrough.

!!''Beyond The Borderlands'' contains examples of:* ChekhovsGun: The crystal that was stolen from a museum in Rise turns out to be [[spoiler:a key to Anubis' prison. There is also another key that was fragmented, but its purpose is unclear at this point]].* SealedEvilInACan: King Sombra. [[spoiler: Actually, it's for Anubis, the god of death.]]* SecretCircleOfSecrets: The Order is a group of [[MasterRace xenophobic unicorn supremacists]] that [[ReligionOfEvil worship King Sombra]].* VictoryFakeOut: [[spoiler:For the cultists, they thought they were releasing King Sombra. Who they got was Anubis, god of the dead.]]

!!''The Definition of Strength'' contains examples of:* BarrierBustingBlow: Sabra accidentally rips a training dummy in half and sends it flying toward the yard wall when he is testing out the new armor enchantment.* [[spoiler:IChooseToStay]]: [[spoiler:Sabra decides to stay with the Dusk Guard, even after he has found his answer.]]* MotorMouth: Sky Bolt, once she gets going.* PunctuatedForEmphasis: After Sabra does a magic-assisted running jump, flips in mid air and lands in the training ground below: “Sabra!” Sky Bolt called, gliding down next to him. “That. Was, Awesome!”* RequiredSecondaryPowers / RealityEnsues: Sabra can feel the full force of his magic-enhanced punch through his body, and skids a foot backwards. The Dusk Guard as a whole needs time to readjust to the increased speed of their movement while in armor, lest they sprain muscles, or worse.* SuperSpeed: One of the mods shown during a presentation in chapter 4.* SuperStrength: The first enchantment completed by Sky Bolt.* {{WAFF}}: Lots of it, [[spoiler:courtesy of Sabra and Sky Bolt's interactions]].* WhatBeautifulEyes: [[spoiler:Sabra keeps staring into Sky Bolt's beautiful flame-red eyes.]]

!!''Old Habits'' contains examples of:* ChekhovsSkill: One way back from the main story. [[spoiler:Nova uses the Crescent Shield to protect himself from a lightning bolt]].* ContinuityNod: Nova spots [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E19PuttingYourHoofDown a blue minotaur and two goats]] advertising a seminar near a fountain at the Canterlot bazaar.* GargleBlaster: The aptly named Shock.* JumpScare: Nova gives this InUniverse to [[spoiler:the teen gang leader]].* OhCrap: Nova realizes that not only the salesman insists on Vinyl signing his album, but she has recognized him.** [[spoiler:And yes, she knows he had robbed her]].* NotWhatItLooksLike: Nova and Vinyl are having a heartfelt conversation in a restaurant, when suddenly the owner walks in with their order, and they realize how close to each other they had been leaning. Vinyl immediately denies anything was going on. The stallion doesn't buy it.

!!''Emoticon'' contains examples of:* BusmansHoliday: It's never a day-off for Steel.* CrossOver: With Series/DoctorWho.* [[spoiler:EmotionBomb]]: The main power of the strange creature that Steel and The Doctor are chasing.* [[spoiler:EmotionEater]]: [[spoiler:The Crystal Fae]] have a unique form of this, [[spoiler:inducing an emotion in the crowd around them and then feeding off the excess]].* NoodleIncident: Steel mentions a conversation with Hunter that had earned him a chewing out with the Royal Canterlot Voice.* [[spoiler:InvoluntaryShapeshifter]]: [[spoiler:The Crystal Fae, since she is just a filly. Adults [[VoluntaryShapeshifting can control both the transformation]] and the emotional reflection]].

!!''Hearth's Warming Cookies'' contains examples of:* PuppyDogEyes: Sparkle gives them to Nova in an attempt to convince him to go caroling with them.* ShrinkingViolet: Sparkle, who spends most of the story hiding behind Steel's leg.* UnusualEuphemism: Asset relocation engineer (i.e thief).* {{WAFF}}: This story is one long streak of adorableness and hilarity.

!!''Why me?'' contains examples of:* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "And what of Twilight Sparkle?" Discord is [[VisualPun literally speechless]].* TheCameo: A few Dusk Guard members show up for a very brief appearance coming out of Luna's personal study, although the story does not specify who they are exactly.* ContemplateOurNavels: It's Discord doing a psychoanalysis of himself.* DarkAndTroubledPast: Discord of all people. [[spoiler:He, along with everyone else bar Luna and possibly Celestia, has considered his own making a mistake of nature]].* ImplacableMan: Even getting depowered by Tirek did not stop the Dusk Guard from continuing to attack him.* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: The Dusk Guard's confrontation with Tirek, which is only briefly described. What is known, though, is that they put up a pretty good fight before Tirek drained their magic, ''[[{{Determinator}} and then kept fighting]]'' for as long as they could.* SurrealHumor: It's a Discord story after all.----